Posted on 03/24/2005 7:24:39 AM PST by pissant
The Insider is going into rehab.
Veteran TV personality Pat O'Brien has checked himself into an undisclosed facility to treat what he calls "a problem with alcohol."
"I have decided to take action by checking myself into an intensive recovery program," O'Brien said in a statement.
"Overcoming this problem is a top priority in my life, and I am excited to return to work as soon as I am able. I am overwhelmed by all the love and support from my family, friends and colleagues in the industry.
No word on exactly how long the bespectacled 57-year-old will be receiving treatment or how long he will be away from hosting chores at The Insider.
"We support Pat's decision to seek treatment and look forward to welcoming him back on the air at the appropriate time," Manfred Westphal, a spokesman for Paramount Domestic Television, which syndicates The Insider, said in a statement.
For now, hosting duties will fall to O'Brien's Manhattan-based cohost, Lara Spencer.
The timing of O'Brien's rehab announcement has been questioned by tabloids and bloggers, coming as it does just a day after salacious voicemail messages were leaked online purportedly featuring O'Brien making what the New York Daily News referred to as a "booty call." Producers have refused to comment on the tapes.
O'Brien left Access Hollywood last August amid some legal wrangling to launch The Insider, a spinoff of Entertainment Tonight.
He had been with Access and longtime cohost Nancy O'Dell since 1997. (Billy Bush took over upon O'Brien's departure.)
Prior to that, O'Brien worked fill-in shifts on Entertainment Tonight, but is best known for his long tenure as a sports reporter. He got his start in local markets in Los Angeles and Chicago before eventually joining CBS Sports.
Last summer, O'Brien covered the Olympics in Greece for NBC and MSNBC
Sounds like he'd make the perfect Democrat candidate.
Yep.
Links, anyone?
SO9
From Jossip.com:
"We never thought Insider host Pat O'Brien would give us so much pleasure. He's like a lesser John Tesh: continual entertainment show host, but without the music cult following and inspirational conventions. First Pat takes off to rehab, then we learn about his sexually explicit voicemails and now there's a photo to go along with the story.
He sent a picture of himself masturbating to his plaything "Betsy," "described as an attractive blond mother of two daughters." But it's Betsy's ex-husband who's in possession of the incriminating photo, which seems to have been attached to an email outlining just how Pat and Betsy could go about having an affair. He's rumored to be mulling over a sale to a celebrity tabloid (not Star, they don't pay for things like that, remember?). And that's just what Page Six is reporting.
Meanwhile at the Daily News' Gatecrasher, Ben Widdicombe shares some Access Hollywood fracas, where he was "reprimanded several times for sexual harassment during his time as co-host." And when he walked into a makeup room and found two black employees, he shouted, "What's up, my niggas!"
We're sure there's much more to come, especially since O'Brien's rep isn't denying anything. Which, come to think of it, might actually make all of these accustations merely rumors in the PR mathematics system."
Link: http://www.jossip.com/dailyj/2005/03/23/alcohobrien_masturbation_photo.php
This guy is such an annoying fraud, even back to his days at CBS Sports. What a dork.
If you find his, er..compromising photo, let me know.
I heard some edited excerpts from these tapes on the radio this morning. He makes O'Reilly sound like a choir boy. My favorite part is when talks about hiring a hooker and buying some coke. Priceless stuff. I hope there's a link out there somewhere.
Good find JIM O. What a pathetic weasel!!!!
(DD ping)
No pictures!?
He sounds like a moron.
From one person in recovery to another, I wish him faith, humility, and sobriety.
The difference between a few of the posters here, and myself, is that I have unconditional love for people who are in recovery. I will love them until they learn to love themselves.
There's the wonderful love of a beautiful maid,
And the love of a staunch true man,
and the love of a baby that's unafraid---
All have existed since time began.
But the most wonderful love, the Love of all loves,
Even greater than the love of a Mother,
Is the infinite, tenderest, passionate love
Of one drunken bum for another.
-- Anonymous
Oh.... come on (pun intended)
How about a stick figure diagram?
Ps... Dick Morris, Marv Albert and now Pat O'Brien!?
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